US; The beginning

Chapter 7

"Hello, is this Maddie?"

"Yeah, who's asking?"

"Hi, I'm Leigh-Anne, Keith's sister" Leigh-Anne said.

"Is there a problem?"

"Nothing, just that Keith ran away from home and my mom's really worried, so I got your number off the back of his notebook and figured to give you call, see if there's anyway you can help us out" Leigh-Anne explained.

"Sure, I think I know where to find him, I'll get back to you... hopefully" Maddie assured.She thought of the possible places he could run to and it jammed her.

She tried to trace the safe place and got their safely. She peeped through some bushes and found him sitting by the pool with a boom box beside him - playing Natural by Imagine Dragons on the mp3 player. She smiled a little when she heard it and proceeded to comfort her client. She took one ear of the earphones and listened.

"Hey, mind if I join you?"

"Hey, what are you doing here?" He asked.

"Your sister called, said you ran away from home and needed help finding you".

"Damn little sister" He murmured.

"It's ok to not be okay, you that right? Anyways, you can talk to me, I have a kindergarten degree in psychology, so I'm officially a therapist" She joked around and he smiled a little. This made her glad.

He looked a bit worried.

"It's ok, you can tell me; I'm listening" She encouraged.

"My dad died...of Leukaemia"

"Oh...my...God! James Song is dead?" She asked shocked and pained.

"No, not James he can't die...not yet, Leigh-Anne needs him" He defended.

"If not James, then who?"

"Randy..."

"Castle?" She completed and waited for a response but his awkward silence was an answer enough. "That means you're Keith Edwin Castle-Song, I thought you said the 'C' meant confidential?"

"Oh my God! Randy freaking Castle is your dad! Mind blown!" She exclaimed with hands on her head and then waving them in the air.

"Yeah, don't forget that he's dead"

"Apologies my lord, should I mourn?" She asked jokingly. He chuckled a little. "And he laughs" She added.

"Why are you pissed off by your papa's death? You of all people should understand the concept that people come and go" She said with childish emphasis on the word 'papa'.

"Please don't say papa, you sound like a two-year old" She laughed at this comment.

"I'm not mad cause he died, I'm mad because no one told me he had Leukaemia for the past four years".

"That's heart-breaking"

"Excuse you, Keith Song doesn't get his heart broken, he's a man"

"Really? Is that supposed to be a joke? Because that was really tacky and corny if I may add" She teased.

"Stop it, I made an effort" He complained. This plan was spiralling down and it was going down fast. He needed to get his head out of the clouds and in the game.

"You know, I kinda had a crush on you back in the day" She said.

"Really? Why?"

"I saw you as somebody who had a really nice personality and after some time of admiration, it just...happened" She explained and smiled when she stopped.

"Really? you saw a nice personality in this sad, dark kid? Nah, I don't think so" He asked completely puzzled.

"Well, it doesn't have to be like that".

Her attention diverted from his face to his lips and she couldn't help but wonder what they would feel like, what they would taste like. She closed her eyes and leaned in for a kiss. He met her midway and the she loved the taste of cherry lip balm on his lips, she could feel the heat of passion coursing through her veins. She wrapped her hands round his neck and pressed harder. He let go of her and looked in her eyes; "Good night Maddie".

"Good night Keith" She whispered.

"Excuse me?" He asked and that made her realize that she was lost in fantasy.

"Sorry, I was thinking of something" She said feeling very awkward. "I guess, my work here is done" She added.

"Good night Maddie" He said for real this time.

"Good night Keith".

"And hey, you can tell me anything, I have a shoulder good for leaning on" She added.

The Next Day...

Ash was getting ready to meet his mystery lady, he had been seeing her for some time now. She seemed to have some effect on him. Apparently, she was some high school senior that he met on an outing fancy function.

"Going somewhere Jasher?" KC asked

"None of your business and don't ever call me Jasher in your life again" He warned.

She then said his name again syllabically.

"Keren-happuch Claire Danvers!" He yelled as he chased her. In the course of the chase, he glanced at the clock at figured that if he continued he would keep his lady waiting. He hit the brakes, hissed and left the house

With her life practically falling apart, Krissa had been thinking lately on how she would fix this mess, Jude and Ramona no longer had a dad to grow up with and this led them back to their step-brother, the only grown male relative they had.

She had to come clean and clear the ill-feelings and hatred they had towards their brother.

"Ramona and Jude, come downstairs dears" She called them like that to indicate that it was urgent.

"Coming!" They both yelled.

"Yeah, what's the happs?" Ramona asked. Nothing really seemed important.

"There's something you need to know" She said as they came down. "You know in life, people come and go and..." She continued but was interrupted by Ramona's outburst.

"Why the heck does the whole country know that my dad is dead before I do?".

Ramona was known to have a temper even at her tender age. She could flare up at any little annoyance and this did the trick.

"Ramona, I'm sorry" Krissa begged.

"What? Sorry? That's all you can say?" Ramona screamed accompanied by violent stomping of her feet. She was growing more and more impatient and intolerant of what she would consider as her mother's incompetence.

"Ramona please, I'm sorry"

"That's what you told aunt Louise and Keith right?" Ramona asked with fire burning in her eyes.

Krissa was more than shocked to hear that statement from her daughter's mouth.

"Yes, I know" Ramona said.

"Know what?" Jude asked.

"Know that..." Ramona was about to speak but Krissa cut her short.

"Ramona Rae Castle, one more word out of your mouth and..."

"And what? What'll you do?" Ramona's last words as she left that irritating vicinity.

Krissa's world was falling to pieces, the family she had worked tirelessly to build had just crumbled to pieces, her husband was dead, her daughter was infuriated, and the only daughter who was sane was left in the dark. Her last hope were the ones she wronged; Christiana and Keith.